Life comes first

One of the things that has always been important for me is to maintain my enjoyment of life, and I’ve always treated my life as more important than my work. I have never lived to work, I’ve always worked to live. It’s often resulted in me feeling a bit sad as I’ve seen workmates work 10 or 12 hour days because their work has been more important to them than the rest of their life.

I know it’s everyone choice as to what they do in their life, and how they want to do it, but I’m also aware of how much they’re missing out on in their life because they’re far too busy working. They miss spending quality time with their children, and they miss important events like school plays or even birthdays. Or some occasion important to their wife, or their husband. All because they feel they have to work their asses off in order to get paid so they can pay the bills.

I’ve never bought into the programming that I exist only to please the managers or the companies that I’ve worked for over the years. Thankfully most of the managers I’ve worked for have been of similar mind to me, and have done their 8 hours a day and then gone home. But there’s been a few here and there who have done their 12 hour days and make it quite clear that they expect their subordinates to do the same.

Most people are too afraid for the security of their job that if they’re asked to stay back or even if it’s implied, then they’ll work extra hard to make sure they keep that job.

And meanwhile, life passes them by, and all those things that they wished they could have been part of, are all gone.

It’s never been me, and I doubt it’ll ever be me. I think it’s also why having my own business appeals to me so much, because I can set my own hours, and my own time, in accordance with what’s important to me and the rest of my life. If I need to do a few 12 hour days, then I can at least schedule the work around the other events that I need or want to be part of.

Freedom.

Most people don’t know what it’s like. They don’t know that they can take control of their situation and create freedom for themselves rather than continue being slaves, while forcing them to miss out on their life. They don’t know that they could find a different job that gives them more freedom. Or they could start their own business and create the freedom for themselves.

Freedom is a luxury most people don’t have, but they could have – if they really wanted it. But for one reason or another, they don’t really want it. They prefer the sweet illusion of stability than the harsh reality of insecurity.

I think the harsh reality of insecurity has become a pattern throughout my life, but I’m happy that I’ve always had the time for all those occasions and people that are truly important to me.

As I move through my life, I’m going to continue focusing on making sure that my life is more important to me than my work. I’ll always work to live, never live to work.

Which side do you lean towards? Do you live to work, or do you work to live?

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Hi, I'm Alan from Canberra, Australia. Thanks for visiting! If you're new to this blog, you might like to click on Start Here to learn more about who I am and what this blog is about. Don't be afraid to say hi and leave a comment!

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